Zoology.] NATURAL HISTORY OF VICTORIA. [Reptiles. 



Plate 51. 



RHODONA OFFICERI (McCoy). 



The Victorian Rhodona. 



[Genus RHODONA (Gray) = BRACHYSTOPUS (Dum. & Bib.) = RONIA (Gray). 

 (Sub-kingd. Vertebrata. Class Reptilia. Order Sauria. Sub-ord. LeptoglossaB. Tribe Geisso- 

 saura. Fam. Scincidae.) 



Gen. Char. — Body and tail cylindrical, elongate ; tail conical, pointed, with 3 or 5 rows 

 of large scales on under side. Legs 4, rudimentary, far apart ; anterior ones very small, 

 tapering to a point, simple, not divided into toes ; bind pair larger, divided into two cylindrical 

 toes with claws, the outer toe about twice the length of the inner one. Head semiconical, 

 depressed, convex above, subcuneiform at tip ; rostral plate depressed, sharp-edged, very wide, 

 triangular, rounded in front ; 2 fronto-parietal plates ; nasal plates large, triangular, converging 

 in front, each with the superior lateral nostril in the middle ; no supra-nasals. Tongue flat, 

 granular, notched at tip ; palate with a short posterior groove, and no teeth ; teeth on jaws 

 conic, blunt ; ear a minute, depressed point ; eyes small, lower eyelid transparent ; surface of 

 body smooth, glossy. Scales smooth, not keeled. (Dr. Giinther describes B. fragilis, from Peak 

 Downs, as having the anterior as well as posterior legs with three fingers each, in the Journal 

 des Museum, Godeffroy Heft., xii., p. 45 • and he describes JR. Gerrardi as having 1 toe on one 

 side and 2 on the other of the anterior limb.)] 



Description. — Head obtusely pointed in front, moderately depressed, a little 

 wider behind than the neck, from which the body tapers gradually to tip of tail ; 

 back and belly of body slightly flattened, tail circular in section. Plates : 6 labials, 

 the fourth forming- lower edge of orbit, the upper two-thirds of orbit bordered by 

 1 to 3 rows of small scaly plates ; rostral large, pentagonal, obtuse-angled above ; 

 nasals large, joining with only small suture ; 1 loreal and 2 anterior ocular small 

 plates between eye and nasal ; fronto-nasal, or prefrontal, transverse, nearly twice as 

 wide as long, rounded behind, length equalling frontal and suture of contact of nasals ; 

 next central plate, or frontal, subpentagonal or nearly triangular, length equalling 

 from tip of snout to its front edge ; next median plate, or occipital, small, subrhombic, 

 slightly less than half the length of the preceding frontal ; 3 smaller plates extend 

 on each side from it to the superior ocular ; a large parietal plate on each side about 

 equalling the frontal and half of the prefrontal in length. Scales : about 18 rows 

 round middle of body, those of belly smaller than back • 26 from gape of mouth to 

 to base of front leg ; from thence to base of hind leg, 87 ; middle row under tail 

 rather larger than those of sides or back of tail ; 2 large pre-anal scales. Anterior 

 limb as long as four and a half of the adjacent scales, about half the length of the 

 gape, ending in a small conical point, and lodged in a channel. Hind limb with 

 two toes, the outer rather more than twice the length of inner one, each with a 

 minute conical claw. Ear-opening a very small depressed pore surrounded by a 

 patch of smaller scales on each side. Color : head above the labials and dorsal half 

 of body rich hazel-brown ; labial plates, throat, and lower half of sides and belly 

 very pale yellow-ochre ; lower half of tail very pale lilac, irregularly flecked with 

 dark-brown, and a slight tinge of the same on dorsal half, rendering the tail darker 

 than the body ; 8 to 10 longitudinal rows of black spots, produced by a corre- 

 sponding number of the transverse rows of scales above, having each an irregular, 

 vertical, lunate, jagged blotch of black a little behind its middle, those of tail larger 

 than on body. The labials and plates of head each with a brown blotch near posterior 



[7] 



